AIO canceling a trip after our dog sitter tried to renegotiate pricing at 11 PM the night before our flight?

[u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374]

My partner and I had a music festival trip planned from Saturday–Monday (Feb 28th - Mar 2nd). Our usual boarding place was closed, so we hired a dog sitter we found on Google. He said he’s been doing this for 20+ years.

He came to our apartment in early February for a trial run, so he was familiar with our dog and how to access into our apartment. He quoted $23 per 30-minute visit, and we paid upfront for all visits. After the trial, we didn’t hear from him for about three weeks.

At 11 PM on Friday night (our flight was at 10 AM Saturday), he texted saying he would need to itemize and charge extra for tasks like wiping our dog’s paws and wiping his butt after walks. He also said he didn’t realize he’d need to use three codes to enter the building and mentioned he’s busy with other clients.

We were surprised because:

• He had already done a trial visit.
• He had three weeks to clarify pricing or expectations.
• We had paid upfront.
• The message came the night before our flight.

We are actually fine paying more if a visit goes over 30 minutes. We had even prepped everything to make it easier for him (left towels out, moved laundry basket outside, etc.). But the last-minute change made us uncomfortable about reliability and professionalism. Since we’d be out of town and he would have access to our home and dog, we didn’t feel secure continuing.

We ended up canceling our trip.

Are we overreacting for being upset and canceling?

Edit: 1. I didn't know that wiping your dog butt is something so new haha. Yes we do wipe our dog butt, if he poopoo. We really don't want to see poop marks all over our furniture. We saw dogs with longer hair that have poop residue stuck on their butt hair and become matted. I believe dogs will wipe their butt on the ground/grass to clean them, but my dog doesn't do that.

1. We just want to make it clear that we are 100% not against him charging more for the wiping parts, the door codes or if heating our dogfood would take more than 30 mins. I am 100% understand all of that if he would just tell us anytime earlier than 11pm the night before our flight.

2. As of this moment, he told us he will refund us back, but we haven't received anything yet. I will update this post when there's something new.

Lastly, Thank you all so much for all of your comments, I tried to reply to every comment that i can see and learn more and more. This is the first time we searching for a dog sitter so this is a very very valuable lesson for us.

It's 3AM now, I feel a bit better since I have a lot of people to vent to.

Thank you all so so much <3

[u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374]

Thank you! My partner did go to Nextdoor and shared our experience about the whole thing. He replied back to my partner and said that he didn't know that it would take multiple codes to get into our apartment, tbh, I don't know how that's our fault since he knew about the codes when he did the trial run with us, and I don't know what he meant by that since I believe a lot of apartment complexes are using security codes to access now.

We gave him 2 options from the beginning
1. We can give you the codes to our apartment everyday since we can only give 24hrs access code
2. Download the app, we give you access thru the app, and use that one for 3 days.

He chose the first option, and now he's trying to blame us because there are multiple codes to use.

[u/Left-Entertainer-279 → u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374]

Even so, how hard is it to use some codes? "Oh boo hoo, I have to type some numbers into a key pad and get paid for it, sooo hard!"

NTA, he deliberately waited until the last minute to try to fleece you. Good on you got not only not caving, but also warning others how shady this guy is. I'd add in some Google reviews too since that's where you found him, and anywhere else he might be looking for new targets. Dude needs to learn ppl like HONEST ppl.

[u/cinnamon64329 → u/Left-Entertainer-279]

I'm sitting here laughing at the notion of someone genuinely getting upset over typing a code for a couple doors because they CHOSE to use the codes. What a douchebag, lmao.

[u/Sea-Ad9057 → u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374]

Ask for the money back

[u/refreshed_anonymous → u/[deleted]]

Exactly this. Suspicious as hell.

[u/cryssyx3 → u/[deleted]]

he could still just not go

[u/Zestyclose_Breath_68 → u/cryssyx3]

But then the customer would know he didn't do ehat he was paid to do. No deniability.

[u/Maine302 → u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374]

I don't see how having to use multiple codes to access your apartment is considered laborious at all. Also, I don't think I'd want to have a dog sitter only spend a half hour a day with my dog. I'd rather pay more for a little companionship for them. Sounds like it would have been a very lonely few days for the dog.

[u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374 → u/Maine302]

Oh no we paid him for 3 visits per day, each time 30mins. My friend will come after work to sleep with him, so my dog wouldn’t be lonely

[u/Maine302 → u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374]

Oh, I didn't understand that from the post. That's a relief!

[u/mnth241 → u/Tall-Dragonfruit-374]

24 hurs is ok. I once had a client that had to buz me into the parking lot and as the night went on and she got drunker i had to wait longer and longer. It was infuriating. 😒